This is a concept that many of us have never even heard of and that is kind of true because we really do not take so much as an effort to check out the tyres of our bikes. Unless for those who are into hardcore biking or go for a lot of touring on the bike, the rest of us are the least interested in the tyres of our bikes unless they start going flat way too often or only after we have had a bad slip or something. So if you are one of those you really need to take a much closer look at your bike’s tyres condition from time to time and have a go through at this article so that you can really understand how important matching tyres is or not.But to start with let me explain what exactly matching of tyres really means. When we buy our bikes from the dealer, ever tried to notice the tyres of the bikes? They are always of the same tread pretty much, but most importantly they belong to the same company, same material and the same type, i.e. either nylon or radials. You will very rarely find a bike which comes one radial and one nylon on it and most importantly they never ever belong to different companies even if that might have been much more cheaper to the manufacturer. And there is always a good reason for it which we are going to check out now.
For starters, the reason why the tyres are matching because a single manufacturer generally makes tyres in pairs which means they complement each other. So suppose you have a Ceat tyre on the front and MRF on the rear, still even though both are nylons and even though they both are the same medium compound, it is still different because even in the manufacturing process of different companies, the medium compound varies. This is exactly the reason why same company tyres are chosen and that is the same reason why we make huge errors.More than the tread pattern of the tyres or the use done for the tyres, these small things really matter. Which is why whenever we go on to change a tyre, we generally change only a single tyre, the front or else the rear and we do not worry about fitting the same one from the company of which the other tyre is of, but we simply put a tyre which costs cheaper or which performs better. And here in this case I am going to run some scenarios for you to understand better what we do wrong.
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Consider you have a KTM Duke 390. This bike comes with a factory fitted set of Metzelers which are soft compound and some of the stickiest tyres. Ultimate grip and performance all agreed, but they do not have the life that others have. So run 12k kms and they are done with. Now you do not really pay much attention to the front because it looks good, but the rear has lost a lot of tread and it has started to catch a lot of punctures lately. So you go to a shop and get them replaced. Now you know Metzelers are really expensive, so you for a cheaper option like Michelin or MRF tyres.
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Now consider this, you have Michelin on the back, but you still have the Metzelers up front. You would think that how would that matter really? But it does matter. The Michelin will do its job but the Metzelers up front is still working to its potential. That means it is a conflict of interest for both the tyres since they are not performing in tandem to each other and that will cause issues for the running of the bike. You will not be able to bring out the full potential of the bike. But suppose had you changed even the front to a Michelin tyre, you should have easily had been getting it all from the bike since both the tyres will be working together in tandem.
You might say that you did that but never really noticed a difference. That is because our Indian roads are such that they do not let us run properly and at slower speeds this difference is not felt at all. But when it comes to riding on the highway or in terms of braking of the bike you will surely notice a difference. The same is the case of running nylons and radials together.RELATED ARTICLE: How About Radial Tyres On Your Motorcycle?
Radials have a completely different performance rating and they are stronger while nylons are made thicker to withstand the same kind of pressure off the road and the bike. For this reason when you actually try and get the full potential, the nylon is going to let the radial tyre down and the vice versa in various cases. For this very reason it is always better to have matching tyres on your bike.
So tomorrow if you happen to going in for a tyre change, then you would want to stick to the same tyre that came from the company to compliment your other tyre or else change both the tyres together and get a matching pair. This will not only be good for the bike, but also for you because the other tyre had also run the similar distance as the one you were to change and a fresh pair of tyres is always better. And then there is again the same compound on both the tyres, so no worrying about the one tyre letting the other down in any circumstances.
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So make sure to always use the same matching tyres for your bikes and avoid mismatching them. The only way this is acceptable if you happen to riding only in the city at low speeds else you plan to change even the other tyre really soon say within a month’s time or so. Else do not experiment that way else the bike and you might get a good taste of the tarmac without the rubber side down.
By: Pratik Patole